Customer Reviews

Jazz Lab Quintet

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Can't believe this CD is not longer available. Trust me, the prices are going to go sky high for this one used. Done in 1957 Gigi Gryce and Donald Byrd teamed up to do five and a half albums in six months as "The Jazz Lab Quintet". The members are Gigi Gryce on alto, Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wade Legge on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums. The cuts are great. The first, "Love for sale" is turned into a waltz. Also, Gryce's best known composition "Minority" is on this CD. A swinging version of "Zing went the strings of my heart" and a bluesy "Straigt Ahead". This is a great Be-Bop CD by the GREAT Gigi Gryce. If you love GREAT be-bop alto, surrounded by great musicians, this is a must buy CD. Too many albums like this are discontinued and then end up costing a FORTUNE. I've seen this CD going for about $70 here on Amazon because it has been discontinued. Buy it used, quickly, before the sellers catch on and jack up the prices of the used copies. I hope you read this before the sellers do!!! You will NOT be disappointed with this CD.

Getting to know this record's been a pleasure because, like most jazz fans who've heard him, I love Gigi Gryce. And I like Donald Byrd who's an institution unto himself now. But on this 1957 recording he's a new, up & coming talent, playing for the first time with Gryce, the 30 year old veteran. In fact, all five of the musicians involved are young, talented and capable of keeping it together all the way through. The trumpet/sax duets are beautiful, as are the solos. And when the whole combo's on at once its engine is purring with authority. They play every song just right. The sad, carnival of LOVE FOR SALE is rendered as a complete experience and Gryce's composition, MINORITY, is a prophetic stand out. But with Wade Legge playing the piano to perfection, STRAIGHT AHEAD, by Lee Sears, really speaks to the modern jazz listener and tells you just exactly what Hard Bop is all about. Finally, the liner notes by producer Orrin Keepnews explain why this music is at once so complicated, yet accessible. He writes, "For what is going on here is out of the ordinary."